Ivan Reitman has decided that he will not return to direct the next installment of Ghostbusters, EW has confirmed.

After producing and directing the previous two films and staying with the third project for years, Reitman will produce and help Sony find a new director for the film, which is eyeing an early 2015 shoot in New York. Deadline first reported the news.

Reitman told Deadline that his decision to step down from the director’s post was in part due to the death of Harold Ramis. He said: “A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career. We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters.”

He also confirmed that script hold ups over the years were partially due to trouble contacting Bill Murray. They eventually started over without a role for Murray, and, Reitman said, they have a draft from Etan Cohen, with some assistance from Dan Aykroyd, that they are happy with. The original cast members are incorporated in a very minor way.